The feeding of human milk (milk from the infant's own mother; excluding donor milk) during the NICU stay reduces the risk of short-and long-term morbidities in premature infants, including: enteral feed intolerance; nosocomial infection; necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC); chronic lung disease (CLD); retinopathy of prematurity (ROP); developmental and neurocognitive delay; and rehospitalization after NICU discharge.1 -29 The mechanisms by which human milk provides this protection are varied and synergistic, and appear to change over the course of the NICU stay.30 , 31 In brief, these mechanisms include specific human milk components that are not present in the milk of other mammals, such the type and amount of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and digestible proteins, and the extraordinary number of oligosaccharides (approximately 130). 32 Human milk also contains multiple lines of undifferentiated stem cells, with the potential to impact a variety of health outcomes through the lifespan.33 Other human milk mechanisms change over the course of lactation in a manner that complements the infant's nutritional and protective needs. These mechanisms include immunological, anti-infective, anti-inflammatory, epigenetic, and mucosal membrane protecting properties.34 -41 Thus, human milk from the infant's mother cannot be replaced by commercial infant or donor human milk, and the feeding of human milk should be a NICU priority.Recent evidence suggests that the impact of human milk on improving infant health outcomes and reducing the risk of prematurity-specific morbidities appears to be linked to specific critical exposure periods in the post-birth period during which the exclusive use of human milk and the avoidance of commercial formula may be most important. 29-31, 42, 43 Similarly, there are other periods when high doses, but not necessarily exclusive use of human milk, may be important. This chapter will review the concept of "dose and exposure period" for human milk feeding in the NICU to precisely measure and benchmark the amount and timing of human milk use in the NICU. Similarly, the critical exposure periods when exclusive or high doses of human milk appear to have the greatest impact on specific